Abstract
Oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) is the most profitable UK arable crop and the cropping area is currently undergoing an increase. Genetic improvement of oilseed rape is a viable means to reduce the reliance on high-input agriculture currently required to achieve the yields that growers require for the crop to to remain profitable. This project will provide the management and core research of the Defra Oilseed Rape Genetic Improvement Centre (OREGIN) and will co-ordinate public and private sector research to achieve the aims of Defra to provide a tangible contribution to addressing strategic objectives in sustainable agricultural systems and climate change. Modern OSR is a relatively new crop (since the 1970s) and is not optimised in terms of harvest index or production under low input systems. OSR is currently a net nitrogen polluter (due to inefficient uptake and plant utilisation in harvestable product) compared to cereal crops, and up 70% of the energy requirements are in the form of fossil-fuel required for fertiliser production, with a significant proportion of the harvestable energy is in the form of suboptimal protein meal, which then enters the livestock food chain. OSR has a significant impact on diffuse pollution affecting water quality, with increasing acreage in the wheat rotation extending the footprint of phosphate and nitrates in water to a major proportion of the UK arable land area. The work outlined in this project represents an evolution in the role and impact the OREGIN core project can have in delivering resources, information and a networking framework to facilitate oilseed rape (OSR) genetic crop improvement In particular, there is scope to identify plant genetic variation that can affect crop inputs and outputs that contribute to: (i) Ameliorating climate change through mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) within the context of carbon accounting and the Nitrogen economy associated with the farming and food chain system. (ii) Improving water quality through reduction of diffuse pollution arising from nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates leaching from arable land. (iii) In the context of climate change, providing a predictive framework for identifying genetically controlled climate-related adaptations in crop plants and their associated pests and diseases. (iv) Improving air quality through reductions in nitrogen fertiliser-derived ammonia gas emissions and delivery to improved rural economy through reductions in farming costs. The establishment of the OREGIN management committee has provided an important point of contact between research providers, Defra and the UK OSR breeding community. This will be extended to include key players in the delivery of improved crop varieties into the market place (e.g. HGCA). The wider network has developed through the OREGIN Stakeholder Forum (chaired by Dr P. Werner, CPB-Twyford), dissemination through the OREGIN website (www.oregin.info) and other meetings and activities, with communication via increased membership of the UK-Brassica Research Community email-list. The work in Year 1 will build on the success of the initial OREGIN project (2003-7), by focusing on providing relevant detailed information about core genetic resources, and demonstrating the ability to use these resources to a) identify relevant genetic variation relating to traits that can have an impact on delivering key Defra strategic objectives and b) provide the tools and information rapidly to resolve contributing genetic loci and alleles that can be incorporated into UK OSR breeding programmes. A key aspect of the project will be to develop a modus operandi for identifying and carrying out pilot experiments based on assessing genetic diversity, and establishing the ease of determining and resolving the genetic contribution to traits that can have a measurable effect on sustainable farming and mitigation of climate change. The traits will be prioritised and assessed over short (12 month) time-frames based on available information and interaction between OREGIN, stakeholders and Defra. Information relating to each demonstration trait is expected to inform decision making about future investment in longer-term projects that underpin crop improvement, where funding may be provided in partnerships between commercial breeders, public sector R&D providers, Defra, LINK, BBSRC and other funding arrangements including from the EU or other international partnerships (e.g. Canada, China, India). In order to achieve this, we have identified the following general objectives: 1. Demonstrate a practical approach for identifying and utilising available genetic variation relating to crop traits that address and assist in the delivery of prioritised Defra strategic objectives for sustainable farming and climate change, by carrying out time bound pilot experiments on prioritised traits. 2. Ensure that integrated datasets and information describing specific crop traits, relevant genetic variation and reference resources in OSR are available in a form that is readily usable by the research and stakeholder communities, and can assist in prioritising traits for crop breeding. 3. Provide the core OREGIN experimental resources (DFFS sets representing plant genetic diversity, reference mapping populations for genetic resolution, and pathogen collections) to the OSR R&D and breeding community, together with associated information to enable rapid genetic analysis of sustainability traits. 4. To characterise the OREGIN global pathogen collections in the context of adaptations to climate change and model predicted
United Kingdom